Target details

Target details

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Alternative Name

Thymidylate synthase (TS)

Background

Thymidylate Synthase (TS) (1) (EC 2. 1. 1. 45) converts deoxyuridine monophosphate (dUMP)to deoxythymidine monophosphate (dTMP), which is essential for DNA biosynthesis. TS isa critical target for the fluoropyrimidines, an important group of antineoplastic drugs thatare widely used in the treatment of solid tumors. Both 5-FU and fluorodeoxyuridine areconverted in tumor cells to FdUMP which inactivates TS by formation of a ternary covalentcomplex in the presence of the folate cofactor 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate. Expressionof TS protein is associated with response to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in human colorectal (4,5),gastric (5), head and neck (6) and breast (7) carcinomas.